Actions and Reactions
by sasha1600
Summary: Part of the 'Future Perfect' universe.  Uncle Gibbs warned Ensign Leigh McGee about old-fashioned CO's... Warning: references to the spanking of adults.  Don't like?  Don't read!
1. Chapter 1

**Actions and Reactions**

**Summary:** Part of the 'Future Perfect' universe. Uncle Gibbs warned Ensign Leigh McGee about old-fashioned CO's... **Warning:** references to the spanking of adults. Don't like? Don't read!

**Disclaimer:** Katie and Leigh are mine; the rest belong to other people.

* * *

A/N: this story contains references to the spanking of adults. If you have a problem with that, click on that 'back' button now. You've been warned.

This is darker than my other stories – I don't want to give more than that away, but if you're looking for something light and happy, this isn't it.

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Leigh pulled a tin of chicken noodle soup out of the cupboard and reached for a can-opener. It was comfort food from her childhood, kept on hand mainly for when she had a cold. Tonight, despite her reddened eyes and the quiet sniffles that escaped her best efforts to suppress them, she wasn't sick. But she definitely needed comfort food.

She plopped the soup into a pot, added water, and set it on the stove to warm while she pulled out a bowl and spoon and rummaged around looking for the crackers that had to be hiding somewhere at the back of the pantry. It didn't take long for her meal to be ready, and it didn't take long for her to eat standing at the counter and to drop the dishes into the sink. She'd clean up later, she decided, pushing aside the habits she'd been forced to acquire during her plebe summer and returning to her natural disregard for tidiness and order. After all, she thought, glancing at the empty tin that lay on its side on the worktop, a thin trail of condensed broth and half a wayward noodle oozing slowly away from the jagged edge, she was indulging her inner ten-year-old tonight.

Still feeling sorry for herself, she reached for her phone. Her thumb hovering over the speed-dial, she hesitated. As much as she loved her parents, she really needed to talk to someone who knew what it was like to be in the military. And, she thought with a rueful smile, even though he was Navy and an officer, this wasn't a conversation she could have with Grandpa McGee. There was only one option for this phone call, she told herself, stabbing at the keypad and listening impatiently while it rang.


	2. Chapter 2

Gibbs grabbed his ringing phone off of his basement workbench, smiling at the personalised ring-tone that the twins had programmed into it when they were both home for the family's early 'Thanksgiving'. He answered the call, tucked the phone between his ear and his shoulder, and scrubbed his hands on an old rag in an effort to remove the worst of the sawdust.

To his surprise, there was only silence from Leigh, and he checked that he hadn't accidentally disconnected the call when he'd wedged the phone in place. Surprise quickly turned to concern.

'Leigh?' he prompted.

His concern escalated when the only reply was a half-smothered sob.

'Leigh? Are you alright? What's the matter?'

He was already upstairs and reaching for his keys when she finally answered, in a small voice that reminding him all too clearly of the girl she'd once been.

'You were right, Uncle Gibbs...'

Leigh hadn't called him 'Uncle' on a regular basis since before she'd graduated from high school. Hearing it from her now did nothing to reassure him.

'What was I right about, Leigh?'

'I got an old-fashioned CO.'

Gibbs relaxed slightly. Leigh was a young officer in her first posting. He was surprised it had taken her this long to call him in tears, wondering if she was in over her head. Remembering a similar conversation during her plebe summer all those years ago, he dropped the keys back onto the hall table and headed into the living room to sit down.

'What happened?'

'Got a whippin'...'

He took a deep breath, pushing down a rush of anger. He was no stranger to that form of informal military discipline. He'd experienced it himself as a young Marine, and had used it with his own men as a Gunny. He'd even warned Leigh about it... and told her that he hoped she'd have a commanding officer who cared enough to spank her when she needed it. He had no problem – in theory – with his surrogate granddaughter paying for her mistakes with a sore backside. But, he was surprised to discover, he was far from happy that it was no longer an abstract scenario. It was the first time one of 'his' girls had been spanked by someone who wasn't family, or, in the case of school authorities, at least someone the family knew and trusted. And even though he approved of the command strategy, and was glad that there were still officers who cared enough to use it, that didn't mean he had to like the stark reminder that Leigh was no longer a little girl.

'What'd ya' do?' he asked, carefully keeping his voice neutral. It wouldn't help anything for Leigh to figure out just how pissed he was right now at her nameless, faceless CO.

'Nearly sank a ship.'

'You did what?' Gibbs knew he didn't manage to keep his astonishment out of his voice. Leave it to Leigh... she really knew how to screw up _big_. Maybe he didn't have quite so much of a problem with her getting spanked for it, now...

'Two ships, actually. I was directing traffic...'

Gibbs nodded to himself. Leigh's first posting was at Norfolk, doing the equivalent of air traffic control for the busy port. She wasn't thrilled about it, finding it simultaneously stressful and uninteresting, but she knew she had to get through it with relatively good fitreps in order to stay on track for flight school next spring.

'...and my attention must have wandered or something, and I misread one of the trajectories and... well... the Ronald Reagan almost ran into the Eisenhower.'

Gibbs smothered a laugh. It really wasn't funny, but for the life of him, all he could see was Leigh as a toddler, splashing wildly in the bathtub, playing 'bumper boats' with her plastic toys.

'Leigh...'

'I _know_! I screwed up! And my CO's already made it very clear just how badly I screwed up! But... it really hurt, Uncle Gibbs! And... and... I just... I...'

His face softened in sympathy. He had no doubt that it had been a painful lesson, and, however much she deserved it, he wished she hadn't had to learn it.

Leigh sniffled for a long moment before he heard her take a deep breath and try to pull herself together.

'I thought your paddle was bad...' she complained.

'He used his belt?' he asked, even though he was pretty sure he knew the answer. It was SOP... or, as close to 'SOP' as something that nobody ever admitted to, on the record, could get.

'Yeah...' Leigh sniffed. 'I never knew how much those things _hurt_!'

Gibbs winced in sympathy. He could still remember – vividly! – his own first whipping from his first CO, and he'd already known what a leather belt across the ass was like, having been there more than a few times with his father. Leigh'd been spanked before, of course, but none of them had ever felt the need to take a belt to her. No wonder she was finding this hard to handle.

'It gets better...'

'I know. It's just...'

'I know. Trust me, Leigh. I _know_...'

Leigh sniffled again.

'Yeah...'

They talked for a few more minutes, until he was sure she was alright, then he sent her off to find an icepack and a couple of painkillers. He hoped she didn't have to learn many more lessons this way, he thought, thumbing off his phone and going in search of his bottle of bourbon.


	3. Chapter 3

Tony took a deep breath and stepped into the conference room, trying to keep his face neutral. As expected, the lieutenant he needed to interview was standing, leaning slightly on the back of one of the chairs, but making no move to sit down.

'Lieutenant Nielson?' he began, pulling out one of the chairs and sitting down. 'I'm Agent DiNozzo, NCIS. I know you've already spoken to the Agent here on base, but he thought someone from one of the major case teams needed to handle this, given the circumstances. So, why don't you start from the beginning?'

He leaned back casually, waiting for the younger man to tell his story. He hated these cases. The ones who complained about their CO's discipline were usually exactly the ones who needed it. But he was too well-trained to let his opinion show.

'Look, Agent DiNozzo, I'm not complaining because Captain Simmons spanked me...'

Tony raised one eyebrow. From what he'd been told by Agent Goetz when he arrived, it sounded like that was exactly what Nielson was doing.

'I've been spanked before. Hell, I've even been whipped by a CO before. What that man did to me was...'

Something about the tone of Nielson's voice, and something in his eyes, made Tony sit up straighter.

'Just what exactly are we talking about here, Lieutenant?'

Instead of replying, Nielson turned his back and wordlessly lowered his uniform pants and shorts. His ass was covered in angry welts, the skin broken in a few places, spots of blood still oozing from the wounds.

It took him only a second to decide that he needed to take the lieutenant to see a doctor, and only a few seconds longer to realise that he needed to take him back to the Navy Yard to see Palmer. There was no way this was the first time that Simmons had beaten someone under his command, and that probably meant that someone in the base infirmary was covering for him. He collected his probie from the observation room, and the three of them headed towards the exit closest to the lot where they'd left the car.

En route, they passed a small mess area. Tony's eye automatically swept over the few officers who were gathered there, his steps faltering when he saw a familiar face. His goddaughter Leigh was halfway through a bowl of jello, her eyes on a newspaper spread out in front of her.

He felt the blood draining from his face as he realised that she was sitting with one leg tucked under her... in a position that he recognised from experience as one that would keep her weight off her butt.


	4. Chapter 4

'Hey, Langley!' Tony called towards the petite blond woman, before she could disappear into a stairwell. 'I need you to take over a case for me!'

'DiNozzo, if this is another one of your 'Razz-the-new-girl' things...'

'No. It isn't.'

The seriousness of his tone obviously convinced her, and she turned to face him.

'It's McGee's kid. I can't...'

He gestured helplessly. He hadn't been partners with Tim for closing in on two decades, but the history between the two men was well known around the agency. There was no way he was giving some defence lawyer that kind of reason to get the case against the S.O.B. who'd hurt Leigh thrown out of court. And nearly everyone else had worked with Tim at one point or another. Langley had just transferred in from the San Diego office – she was the obvious choice to deal with the case.

'Say no more,' she replied, holding out her hand for the case file. Tony quickly briefed her on what he'd done before he'd realised Leigh's involvement, and told her that both Leigh and Lt. Nielson were being taken down to see Palmer.

He'd confronted a surprised, embarrassed, outraged Leigh, ultimately resorting to calling her 'Ensign' and flashing the badge at his hip when she'd refused to answer his questions. He wasn't sure what worried him more: the fact that she still wasn't sitting comfortably, nearly a week after being whipped, or that she didn't seem to think that was a problem. He'd sent her off with the probie, lying down in the back seat after a brief battle of wills that she'd abandoned when she realised that her dignity wasn't worth an uncomfortable, long car ride, then he'd commandeered a car from the base motor pool so he could bring Nielson the same way.

'Ok. Let me just grab the camera and I'll head down there.'

Tony nodded, silently grateful that he wasn't going to be there for that conversation. They needed the photos for evidence, but Leigh was _not_ going to be happy about it. It was another reason why Vanessa Langley was his first choice to take over the case, but having a female agent on the other side of the camera wasn't going to be enough to make Leigh co-operate without a fight.

But, he thought with a wince, the call he needed to make now wasn't going to be a pleasanter conversation.


	5. Chapter 5

'Thanks, Jerry.'

Tony snapped his phone shut and headed towards the elevator. It was a good thing he'd warned the guys at the security checkpoint. As expected, Gibbs was in no mood to wait around for a visitor's pass and an escort, and the last thing Tony needed was to have to deal with Gibbs winding up in the infirmary, or in handcuffs, if someone downstairs tried to stop him from just barging through.

The elevator doors opened with a ding, releasing a torrent of protest. Gibbs might still be a legend around the Navy Yard, but that didn't mean the guards downstairs would entirely ignore protocol, even with the advance warning. Nobody quite had the nerve to pull a gun on him, but one of them had followed him into the elevator and was trying, ineffectually, to convince him to return to the lobby and at least sign the visitors' log.

'Mr. Gibbs, you can't just... you aren't an agent anymore!'

'I. Don't. Care. I want to see my grand-daughter. Now.'

Tony inwardly flinched. Everyone knew that the twins were like grand-children to Gibbs in all but blood, but it was unusual for Gibbs to actually _say _it. And the guard currently trying to come between an overly-protective, papa-bear Gibbs and Leigh seemed oblivious to the danger he was putting himself in.

'It's ok, Myers. He's with me.'

'But...'

'Myers, I've got it. You can get back to the door.' Tony mentally crossed his fingers, hoping that the guard would get the message and leave before blood started being shed. To his relief, the younger man lingered just long enough to glare his displeasure before turning on his heel and stalking off.

'What are you doing here?'

'Boss? I...'

'Where's Leigh?'

'Palmer just finished checking her out. She's with Agent Langley, giving her...'

'Is she alright? Are Tim and Abby with her? And who the hell is Langley? You should be...'

_Just like old times_, Tony thought, remembering all too vividly his boss's demands, which he sometimes thought would require a time machine and the power of bilocation to satisfy.

'She'll be fine. Palmer says there's no permanent damage, just some pretty spectacular bruising. McGee's in court; I left a message on his phone, but he won't get it until there's a recess. Abby's on her way back from that forensics conference downtown, but with traffic it might take a while. Langley going to be handling the investigation. She's a good agent...'

'Why aren't you...'

'Dammit, Boss! You know I can't be the one who investigates this!'

'DiNozzo...'

'You think I don't want to haul that bastard in here and rip him limb from limb?'

'Then why aren't you...'

'Because the best chance we have of him seeing the inside of a cell is for someone who isn't the victim's family to be in charge of the investigation! And you know it!'

'A cell is too good for that...'

'I know. But...'

Seeing Vanessa Langley approaching, Tony broke off abruptly and made the necessary introductions.

'You can't be done already?'

'Well, since Ensign McGee refuses to talk to me...'

'What do you mean, she refuses to talk to you?'

'I know what she told you, DiNozzo, but she's not repeating it for the record.'

'Oh, she's not, is she?' Gibbs said softly, in a tone that anyone who knew him well would recognize as just short of dangerous. Without waiting for a reply, he spun on his heel and headed towards the room from which Langley had emerged.

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A/N: Yes, Gibbs's last line here is exactly what he said about Leigh's stubborn streak in draggon-flye's Temper, Temper. The echoing is deliberate and done with permission.


	6. Chapter 6

Leigh looked up at the sound of the door opening. It took her about half a second to realise that she didn't give a damn about military decorum. She leapt to her feet, and Gibbs barely had the door closed behind him before she launched herself into his arms. She sobbed against his shoulder, not caring that she was rumpling her uniform or that naval officers were not supposed to break down weeping.

To her relief, he didn't say anything, just hugged her tightly and let her cry. It was only when her sobs had given way to quiet sniffles that he took a step back and held her at arm's length.

'Why didn't you tell me?'

'I _did_! I called and...'

'You told me that your CO _spanked_ you. You didn't tell me that he _beat_ you.'

'I thought...'

'Why did you lie to me?'

'I didn't!'

'Leigh...'

'How was I supposed to know? I'd never been spanked with a _belt_ before!' Leigh protested, almost hysterically. Her heart was racing, and her hands were clammy. She pulled in a long, shaky breath, trying to calm down.

Bending over to let her commanding officer whip her with his belt had been one of the hardest things she'd ever done. She'd been terrified, and humiliated. She knew he was right – she'd never be accepted for pilot training if she had a black mark like this on her record. And she wanted to fly... _needed_ to fly. And if that meant accepting informal, off-the-record punishment for a massive screw-up, then that's what she would do. Even without Gibbs's warning that this might be a possibility some day, she knew she would have made the same decision. She'd have been more shocked by the offer, but it wouldn't have affected the outcome. But that didn't mean it was easy to agree to let a man she didn't particularly like, or respect, punish her in a way that was both personal and painful.

And to have Uncle Tony, and now Gibbs, telling her that she'd done something wrong by accepting her CO's discipline, that he'd done something wrong by inflicting it, was turning her world upside down.

She wasn't used to having to seriously question whether or not a punishment was fair. Sure, she'd grumbled and complained at times, growing up, trying to talk her way out of a spanking, or angling for sympathy, afterwards. But she hadn't honestly felt like she didn't deserve it. She didn't think of spankings in terms of abuse. And it hadn't occurred to her, this time, to do more than decide that Capt. Simmons had a heavy hand, and resolve never to incur his displeasure so spectacularly again.

'How was I supposed to know it wasn't supposed to be like that?' she continued, her voice cracking.

To her surprise, Leigh found herself drawn back into a hug, so tight that she could barely breathe. After a moment, Gibbs murmured in her ear, 'Do you honestly think _I'd_ ever spank you like that?'

'No... but...'

'That's how you know, Leigh. That's how you know.'

Leigh's efforts to pull herself together evaporated and she dissolved into tears again. And, again, Gibbs held her until she was spent before gently wiping a finger across her cheek and offering her a tissue from his pocket.

'Ok. You ready to get an agent in here to take your statement?'

Leigh felt a wave of panic returning.

'No! I can't!'

'You can, and you will,' Gibbs replied, sounding, to Leigh's ears, for all the world like he was once again directing her younger self through some hated task.

'You don't understand! I have to...'

'You think I don't understand how hard it is to file a report against your CO?' Gibbs demanded in a voice that made Leigh cringe.

_Good one_, she told herself. _Suggesting the Gunny doesn't understand life in the military is __such__ a good idea!_

'I know it's hard. But you're going to do it anyway. Because it's the right thing to do.'

'But...'

'No buts, Leigh. You are not going to cover for him.'

'I'm not...'

'You let him get away with this, you let him go back out there and do the same thing to someone else under his command, and you're no better than he is.'

'But why can't Lieutenant Nielson...'

'You are not going let your fellow officer carry the whole load on this! That's not the way your parents raised you, and that's not the kind of officer you're going to be.'

'Yessir.' She knew Gibbs hated being called 'Sir', and on some level she even recognised the absurdity of an officer sirring a non-com, but she couldn't help herself. The response was too ingrained, too instinctive. And the smirk he gave her told her that he understood.

'Good. Now I'm going to send that agent back in here, and you are going to co-operate fully with her investigation. Understood?'

Leigh just nodded, chewing on her lower lip. Her heart was still racing and her palms were still sweating and she still hated the idea of everyone _knowing_ what had happened and knowing that she had broken the military code of silence and made an official complaint about her commanding officer and thinking of her as a complainer or, worse, a victim. She felt her chin being tipped up, and Gibbs forced her to meet his eyes.

'Good girl,' he told her, before pressing his lips against her forehead.

Watching him open the door and step out into the hallway, Leigh braced herself. She had a feeling that her day was about to get even worse.


	7. Chapter 7

Tony watched from the observation room while Capt. Simmons shifted restlessly, leaning back in his chair and glaring towards the one-way glass, as if he sensed he was being watched. He'd been impressed at how quickly Agent Goetz had found the captain and delivered him to the Navy Yard. He'd have to keep the young agent in mind the next time he had a vacancy on his team, he thought... which, considering the way that Tim had ended up joining the team all those years ago, was somewhat fitting. Now he was just waiting for Langley to finish letting him stew. As much as he wanted to be in the interrogation room himself, he knew he couldn't be. But there was no way anyone was telling him he couldn't watch.

He heard the door open behind him, and for a moment he thought it was Langley. He quickly realised it was Abby being ushered into the observation room by Gibbs, who was trying ineffectively to calm her down.

He was used to the whirlwind that was an excited Abby, but he'd never seen her like this. An overly-protective papa-bear Gibbs had nothing on a mama bear whose cub was injured, he realised.

'Is that him?' she demanded, looking like she wanted to climb through the window and tear the captain to pieces with her bare hands.

'Abs, just...'

'DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN! He hurt Leigh. LEIGH! My daughter! Your...'

'I know what he did, Abby, but...'

'Then why aren't you in there? Why aren't you BOTH in there...'

Tony took an instinctive step backwards as she turned towards him.

'Abby...'

'Why does he have a chair?'

Tony blinked. That was a fast change in the direction of the conversation, even for Abby.

'He shouldn't get a chair! Why does he get to sit down? Leigh can't...'

'ABBY!'

Not even Gibbs's bark managed to snap her out of it. Tony stepped between her and the target of her rage, despite the fact that there was already a wall between them. Abby couldn't actually break the shatter-proof glass, but he suddenly had doubts about the structural integrity of the wall.

'Why are you protecting him?'

'Abby, I'm not... Ow! Hey!'

He caught both her wrists, hoping that he didn't leave bruises. He had no doubt that she _had_, pounding on his shoulder.

'Let go of me! Let me...'

Suddenly, the anger seemed to drain out of her, and she collapsed against him like a rag doll. He released her wrists and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly.

'It's ok, Abby. Shhhh...'

Crying women, even Abby, were not his strong suit, and he looked pleadingly over her shoulder at Gibbs who simply quirked one eyebrow at him and made no move to take his place. A moment later, the decision was taken out of their hands when Abby reached out, pulling Gibbs into the hug.


	8. Chapter 8

Palmer took one look at the raw skin and headed straight for one of the cupboards. He quickly gathered a few supplies and turned back towards his waiting patient. Scolding gently, he carefully flexed the swollen fingers, making sure that nothing was broken. It was easy to guess what had happened, and by the time he finished cleaning and bandaging the scraped knuckles, he'd coaxed the details out of his friend.

McGee had been stuck in court, and it had been late in the day before he'd had an opportunity to check his messages. By the time he'd arrived back at the Navy Yard, Capt. Simmons had already cut a deal with Agent Langley.

Tim had been furious, at Langley for making the deal, at Tony and Gibbs for standing by and allowing it, and, mostly, at Simmons, for hurting his little girl. He hadn't wanted to hear that the deal would see Simmons unceremoniously removed from the Navy and cost him his pension, or that it would spare Leigh and Lt. Nielson the ordeal of testifying against their commanding officer. He hadn't wanted to hear that Leigh herself had agreed, before the offer had even been presented to Simmons. And he really hadn't wanted to hear Langley, DiNozzo and Gibbs telling him that they weren't going to let him see the bastard.

Palmer made sympathetic noises, biting back the 'Duh!' that was sure to further agitate the agent. They'd already had to stop Abby from trying to beat the captain to death with her bare hands; there was no way they were letting Leigh's weapon-carrying father anywhere near the man.

'And what made you decide that punching a brick wall was a reasonable response?' he scolded, gathering up his first aid supplies. He'd already had to cope with more non-dead patients today than he was comfortable with; he really could have done without a second McGee ending up needing his services.

Tim flexed his hand, checking that the irritated ME hadn't cut off the circulation in his fingers. 'Needed to punch something...' he mumbled.

'And a _brick_ _wall_ seemed like the best choice?'

'Gibbs wouldn't let me go find Simmons,' he complained, getting to his feet and heading towards the door with a nod of thanks. 'And it was safer than punching _Gibbs_...'


	9. Chapter 9

Tim sank down on the couch and loosened his tie, fumbling slightly with his bandaged fingers. It had been an exhausting day, and he felt both physically and mentally drained. And, with Abby driving Leigh back to her base, he was, unusually, alone.

His solitude was short-lived, however, thanks to the entirely predictable arrival of Gibbs.

But if he was unsurprised that Gibbs had stopped by, he was simply astonished to see him pull off his belt, fold it in half, and hold it out to him. Tim didn't move to take it from him and, instead, simply blinked at him uncomprehendingly.

'I failed her, Tim. If I hadn't told her that her CO might spank her...'

Tim realised what Gibbs wanted almost immediately, but that didn't make it any easier to wrap his head around the fact that this conversation was happening. He understood the guilt that Gibbs was feeling, the regret about not being able to protect Leigh. He was feeling the same way himself. And on some level he even understood why Gibbs was coming to _him_. He was the logical person to dole out retribution on Leigh's behalf. And there was no one left who Gibbs was used to having to answer to when he screwed up; Tim was family, and a reversal of their usual roles for the sake of needed absolution did make sense. To his horror, Tim realised that he might someday have to get past the complete freak-out he was feeling at the thought, and actually spank Gibbs, for his sake.

But that didn't mean he had any intention of doing it today, for something that wasn't Gibbs's fault.

'This is _Leigh_ we're talking about, Gibbs. She would have done anything to keep her record clean for flight school, whether you'd warned her or not. And she's hardly a stranger to the concept of paying for her screw-ups with a sore ass. She would have...'

'But when she called to tell me...'

'She told you that she'd been _spanked_. You had no reason to think it was anything more than that.'

'But...'

'Gibbs, this is only one man's fault. And it's not yours.'

'But...'

It took another fifteen minutes before Gibbs finally threaded his belt back on, and even then Tim wasn't entirely sure if he was convinced that it wasn't his fault, or if he'd simply given up. _Damned stubborn Marine_, he thought, getting up to grab a couple of beers from the fridge.

He was reaching for the bottle opener when he heard DiNozzo at the front door. He snagged another beer before heading back to the living room, arriving just in time to hear Gibbs start to tell Tony that he felt responsible for Leigh's injuries.

_thwack!_

Tim froze in the doorway, staring at his former partner in disbelief. Gibbs, stunned into silence mid-sentence, looked over his shoulder at Tony, then suddenly burst out laughing, melodramatically rubbing the back of his head.

For his part, Tony seemed equally shocked, and was staring at his hand as if it were under the control of some alien life form. Handing him a beer, Tim was inclined to agree.

Because even if Gibbs didn't seem to mind the non-verbal message, he was pretty sure that Tony must have lost his mind.


End file.
